Solidarity with University strikes: Collection sheet

10 February 2020

University workers at 74 universities (see: bit.ly/UniversityStrike) are set for a further 14 days of strikes in February and March. There are two separate disputes—one over the universities’ USS pension scheme and the other over pay, equality, workload, and casualisation.

The higher education system is sustained by tens of thousands of workers on casual and fixed term contracts-casualisation is endemic in the university sector. Data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency shows that two-thirds of researchers (67 percent) are on fixed-term contracts and almost half of teaching-only staff (49 percent) are employed on fixed-term contracts.

This new round of strikes follows eight days of strikes in November and December in 60 universities. These strikes need support and solidarity across the whole trade union movement.